Page One #10
jpeg updates. 2-23 through 2-27
Announcements and such:
Back on schedule, although Elden Ring attempted to prevent that. I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who reads. Page One started about a month ago and whatever expectations I had have already been exceeded. Hopefully it has been beneficial to readers as well. With that said, we’re always looking for ways to improve, so please hit us up with any feedback - and come hang out.
TLDR:
International unrest stirred markets of all kinds last week and will continue to do so in the immediate future. While that likely means many will look to go risk-off, the NFT space doesn’t stop until the AWS servers are out and there’s still plenty going on.
Invisible Friends made their long-awaited debut. Mfers give a crash course in CC0, Web3 comes together to raise money for those in need. A project’s cancellation reminds us all to put yourself first.
News and Notes:
Clone X will be entering The Sandbox. All 20,000 Clones will be voxelized and available for use as avatars in the upcoming RTFKT Metadungeon, their first curated Sandbox experience. RTFKT has consistently rewarded their holders with access to airdrops and that doesn’t look to be changing. The Metadungeon will release in Sandbox’s Alpha 2, while the voxel Clones should release some time after.
Critterz may sometimes be overshadowed by another Minecraft-focused collection, but they are forging their own path. Players on the Critterz server earn $BLOCK, which can be used to purchase tradeable plots of land. Like $WLRD, this token is supported by an in-game economy that creates demand, as players need it to purchase not only land, but also items, services and entry to events. Their new website UI includes a marketplace for plots, which dynamically update as they’re built.
CryptoMories were delisted from OpenSea on the 26th after a DMCA takedown request was filed against them. The team released a brief statement on Twitter - read here. Sabet, an NFT artist and creator of Pixopop, filed the takedown request. DMCA requests happen often in the NFT space but this situation is more interesting, as we’ve rarely seen two established artists ensnared in a legal fiasco. Mories can still be traded on LooksRare and other marketplaces.
Mfers have reached a new echelon since we last discussed them on February 10. The floor has multiplied and so have the derivatives. Within the last week, we’ve seen Invisible Mfers, Mphers, The mfer chicks, xmfers and more - it’s hard to keep track of them all. Thankfully, Mfer community member sartocheap is building mfersunited.com, a marketplace where Mfer derivatives can apply to be listed and trade without a royalty fee. Mfers have blossomed and are displaying what it means to be a CC0 project.
Pixelmon revealed on the 25th and quickly turned into a meme. Not only is the art atrocious, but there are strong accusations that they not only copied previous game art, but mislead artists they hired while paying them ~$6,000 with the project raising ~$70M. More here and here.
Purrnelope’s Country Club released their Roadmap 2.0, which you can read here. In addition to 3D models, physical assets, and bodies for each Purr, PCC announced they have acquired an NFT World and plan to build community games on it. The new $TOKEN will be used to purchase packs holding NFTs your Purr will be able to equip. PCC has been around longer than most and while they’ve been out of the spotlight, they’ve continued building cool stuff.
WizardsDAO has made a number of announcements in recent weeks. In addition to some new treasury acquisitions, the DAO has reduced the number of Wizards auctioned per day from 5 to 3, introduced Quests, and teased a female wizard.
Recent Launches:
DEGEN TOONZ took a week to sell out after opening their mint on the 15th. Once they sold out, though, they found barely any resistance on the way up. The floor peaked around 1e yesterday, only 5 days after the collection was selling below mint on OpenSea. A recognizable bunch, the Degens are clearly inspired by Loony Tunes and have a roadmap full of the standard offerings.
The Doggies, a collection of Sandbox avatars curated by Snoop Dogg, released on the 22nd. This is Snoop’s second collaboration with Sandbox, the first being the Private Party Pass. The success of these collections shows the viability of collaboration between celebrities and web3 companies - and likely isn’t the last we’ll see of it from Sandbox.
HOWLERZ from Noah (‘NFT Guy at Christie’s’) and company held their not-so-stealth mint on the 25th. Free of a roadmap, discord or project team, HOWLERZ is a CC0 project that the community can use however they want. The collection drew some criticism for its distribution method, as it gave scammers an opportunity to launch fake “HOWLERZ” contracts. One such scam took in nearly 250e only an hour before the official launch.
Invisible Friends exploded onto the scene with sales north of 13e immediately after minting began on the 23rd. They revealed this morning and have settled a bit after trading around 9e between mint and reveal. There’s no denying the creativity and charisma present in Markus Magnusson’s art - he has succeeded at blending personality and imagination into something unique.
Parallel Pack Drop 3 was last night and those who fought through the server outages and secured some packs should be able to transfer their cards out of the vault now (or when network conditions are good enough). Parallel pack drops are always one of the coolest NFT community events, taking over Twitter for the night as everyone hopes to bank a Masterpiece.
RELI3F UKR is a humanitarian aid initiative to support the people of Ukraine. Released on the 25th, the collection includes 37 pieces by 37 web3 artists, including Clon, Danny Cole, Defaced, FVCKRENDER and others. Each piece has a supply of 200. All profits and secondary royalties will go towards supporting the people of Ukraine.
WonderPals began their mint, which was allocated to WonderList members. So far, nearly 9,000 have been minted and the collection has traded nearly 3,500e in volume. With a Twitter following of nearly 150,000, WonderPals has become one of the most anticipated cute-pfp collections due in part to their impressive and lengthy list of established partners and ambassadors.
Upcoming Launches:
BattleFly announced that their mint will begin on Wednesday and will be open for 48 hours. 30,000 Genesis Cocoons will be available for mint for free, although minters will need to have 5 $Magic in their wallet (which will not be taken). The whitepaper is ‘currently being reviewed’ and is expected to be published next week. Read the full announcement here.
Dour Darcels have been popping up on Twitter more frequently as they prepare to mint on March 4th. A kind-of-3D cute pfp collection, they’ve given whitelist opportunities to various communities including Starcatchers and Non-Fungible Fungi.
Sabretooth Syndicate from friend and fellow The Oner NoLimit mints tomorrow for 1 SOL. The familiar pixelized art style reminds you of CyberKongz, Kaijus and the slew of other animals, yet interesting and creative trait choices give these tigers something fresh.
Space Doodles are available for Doodles holders to claim tomorrow. The new airdrop includes ‘dozens of spacecrafts’ that holders can occupy. Doodles will also be at SXSW March 12-14 and holders can watch their presentations live online.
WGMI Interfaces announced today that the project will not be released. In the Medium post titled “A passion project that no longer feels like a passion project,” the team discusses the stresses and challenges they faced and how they came to their decision. While its unfortunate we won’t see the finished product, this serves as a reminder that there are people just like you on the other side of (nearly) every keyboard and the NFT space can be an overwhelming place. Best of luck to the WGMI team.
Read the Medium article here.
NFT Market Overview:
Overall, things could be worse. Given the current geopolitical state of, well, the world, you have to be satisfied with whatever you can get at the moment. Regardless, the past week went pretty well. Volume was partially fueled by Invisible Friends, which has already done 22,000e in volume. Transaction counts seem rather low but users remain as constant as ever, signaling that some traders are more checked out than usual. The market will likely remain a bit cautious until there is more clarity in eastern Europe.
NFT News and Happenings
Associated Press cancels planned NFT sale after backlash
Crypto donations to Ukraine exceeded $7M on the 27th
$Magic Hour Episode 6 released, features an interview with End about Life NFT
Mitsubishi UFG, Japan’s largest bank, will launch its own crypto and NFT wallet
Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce giant, launched its own NFT marketplace